Read our posts about Society

05Jun

The Beautiful Game and Depression

Lorne St

anxiety, depression, men, mensmentalhealth, society, suicide

Soul

Footballer Gary Speed, former captain-turned-manager of the Welsh national team, had movie star looks, a million pound mansion, a beautiful young wife and two sports-obsessed sons. He seemed to have the world at his feet. But three years ago he took his own life after an embittered battle with depression. With the World Cup in Brazil only days away it is easy to cloak our footballers with the super human strength of gladiators in Ancient Rome. However when the arena clears and the applause dies away, cases like Speed’s are sadly far from rare. A study carried out by...
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29May

Boarding School Survivors

Nick Duffell

boardingschool, education, empathy, family, society, therapy

Mind

Nearly two-thirds of the current British cabinet went to boarding school, but what psychological impact has this had, and does it make for good leaders?
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12May

Why I Left My Enchanted Cage

Charlotte Du

creativity, emotions, society

Soul

Charlotte Du Cann is a former fashion editor with green principles
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08May

Middle-Aged Women: Ignored or Liberated?

Terri Apter

menopause, midlife, society, women

Soul

Middle-aged women are not so much ignored as they age, but liberated to speak out, says psychologist Dr Terri Apter
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03Mar

"Head in a Car Crusher": Understanding Autism

Phoebe Caldwell

books, care, society

Mind

When I first started to work with people on the autistic spectrum, I was given a very bad piece of advice: because the brains of people with autism were damaged, one should not listen to what they had to say. The implication was that they had nothing useful to contribute. I repeat this now only because it highlights how completely our perspective on autism has been challenged and redirected by the autobiographical accounts of such courageous people as Temple Grandin, Donna Williams and many others, presenting us with the view from the inside. Starting as a...
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04Feb

Cosmetic Surgery Makes Beauty That's Barely Skin Deep

Linda Blair

psychology, society, women

Body

I was sad to read in The Guardian today that there’s been a big rise — nearly 17 per cent – in the demand for cosmetic surgery in Britain in the last year. Breast augmentation is the number one favourite, with anti-ageing techniques such as eyelid surgery and face and neck lifts following closely behind.  I was, however, not surprised to read that there’s also been a rise in reports of patient dissatisfaction. Quite apart from any issues of competence  this shows that cosmetic surgery doesn’t offer lasting satisfaction. Why not? First, the procedures rarely promise...
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03Feb

Taking Care of Our Elderly

Wendy Varley

care, elderly, family, society

Relationships

More and more of us have an elderly relative in residential care. Currently more than 400,000 people in the UK live in care homes, a figure which is bound to rise further, given the ageing population (there are currently 3 million people aged over 80 in the UK, and that figure is predicted to almost double by 2030. Currently one-in-six of the UK population is aged over 65; by 2050 it will be one-in-four). NICE the (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has issued new guidance on improving the mental wellbeing of older people in residential care, via a...
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22Jan

Can TV Make Us Happy?

Jon Madge

happiness, psychology, society, TV

Mind

With the National Television Awards tonight and controversy over television programmes filling the papers again, it might be a good time to look at how the television we watch affects our well-being. Our brains are incredibly susceptible to what we watch, in part because of two bits of biological programming. One is that we’re designed to not waste energy, so sitting down and having information come to us feels easy. The other biological quirk is that new experiences register as stronger than familiar ones, we’re hard-wired to seek out novelty. Television provides us...
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03Jan

Culture Tip: The Circle

Louise Chunn

books, society

Soul

I was racing through Dave Eggers' The Circle over Christmas and enjoying it so much, I just had to tweet something about it. But what? "Am loving the way this book makes social media sound like a totalitarian state #1984"  Or "Mister Cool Dave Eggers is acting like a technophobic dinosaur" Or simply "Step away from the screens!"? To explain. This novel is about a young woman, Mae Holland,  who gets a job at a Google-(or is it Facebook?)like company and gets drawn further and further into a technological takeover of her life. What starts out as social...
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